Dear Editor,
In Stabroek News’ The Scene of 4th January 2020, artiste Courtney Noel promises a new single, “You know you are a Guyanese”. Many people yearn and work hard to express what they think Guyanese is, and what they think Guyanese should be and no doubt with elections coming up, all efforts must be encouraged to promote Guyana’s diversity as a Guyanese thing.
The trouble though, is that Mr Noel has a line in the lyrics, “You know you’re a Guyanese when Diwali come, we all eating the seven curry sweet and is El Dorado we beating…” There are many Hindu Guyanese who do not drink rum with the seven curry for Diwali, and many Hindu organisations who plead with Guyanese to not use Diwali and other Hindu festivals to promote Guyana’s destructive El Dorado/alcohol culture.
Mr Noel has probably celebrated the El Dorado culture in other parts of the song. While he has the right to express how he imagines Guyanese celebrate Diwali, there should be a responsibility on his part to also think of Guyanese who do not want alcohol at Diwali or any other religious festival. There should be a responsibility to contribute to the efforts to make sure that no Guyanese has to suffer as a result of “beating El Dorado.”
Yours sincerely,
Vidyaratha Kissoon
